This is the default setting for this variable and not sure why it would change. Before you set it in your server.cfg you can run a cvarlist command on your server console and see what it's currently set to.

Is it actually pausing or are you just seeing the "Soandso paused" message in the logs? If it's the latter, it's not actually pausing, it is just the message that appears in the log when someone opens the menu.